Elevator Love
by Acaylee
Summary: What goes up doesn’t necessarily come down. He’s her new boss, and she’s just ripped off a part of his pants. [SxS]
1. smile and you'll get it

**Elevator Love**  
acaylee

**chapter one**

Something's not right. There's this little fear inside me telling me that there's something wrong. And something wrong means that I broke it. I broke Tomoyo's laptop.

_Hoee_...

I hit my forehead on the laptop in resignation. Tomoyo's going to kill me. She's my roommate, by the way. And childhood friend. And my second cousin. And basically everything a single, unemployed twenty-one year old girl wants in a best friend. Actually, scratch the unemployed part. From this morning on, I'm actually employed.

For the first time ever. Well, sort of. If you're not counting all the other twenty-eight jobs that don't count at _all_. The point is that this is the first ever _proper_ job, which is why I'm going to be fully prepared. Which brings me back to breaking Tomoyo's laptop.

"Sakura, are you still here?" comes Tomoyo's voice as she walks into the kitchen.

I don't know how to break it to her. I lift my head off her laptop and give her the biggest smile I can muster. "Tomoyo, I don't know what happened, but your laptop...it's broken." I try and lift the top part up (you know, the screen, or whatever it's called) except, like it was ten minutes ago, it won't budge. "I know you really liked this laptop, Tomoyo," I continue, "but maybe it's time for change. After all, laptops are like boyfriends. They don't last forever. Unless you stay boyfriend and girlfriend forever without being married, which is completely ridiculous because –"

"Sakura."

"– can you imagine the tombstone? Here lies 'insert name', faithful boyfriend and 'whatever else he is'. The point is, Tomoyo, just because your laptop won't open, you shouldn't be attached to it. Most boyfriends don't last forever. You need to try a few out, and then decide which one you want to spend the rest of your life with. Just like laptops. How do you know you're a HP person? Maybe, for all your life, you've been waiting for a Mac. Or maybe, if the worst was to happen –"

"Sakura! It's not broken," she says quickly.

"– you may be a comp..." I trail off. "It's not?"

Tomoyo walks closer to the bench where I'm sitting at. "You're actually opening it the wrong way." She demonstrates by lifting it open from the other end, while I was before trying to press the hinges and everything to make it happen from this end. "And just what are you doing with my laptop?" she adds casually while taking a seat next to me.

"Ah," I say just as casually, "nothing."

Tomoyo nods, and we're both very casual. "I see."

"Yep."

I won't tell her. Even though she always says that I can't help but tell her everything.

I take a sip from my strawberry milk. "Just to let you know, Tomoyo, I'm not going to tell you anything, because nothing happened. I'm not going to tell you I was thinking of taking it to her work – because I wasn't thinking of that at all. So if you're thinking what I wasn't thinking which I told you I wasn't thinking, then what you're thinking is wrong because what I'm thinking is what I'm really thinking."

Tomoyo looks at me.

"Okay, okay! Stop looking at me!" I blurt out, and she smiles in satisfaction. "I thought I'd look the part of a business woman and carry a laptop around."

"My laptop."

"Yes."

"I see."

"Yep."

"No."

"Yes?"

"No!"

"Yes!"

"_No_!"

"No?"

"Yes!"

"So I can take it!" I say in the satisfaction Tomoyo had before. She narrows her eyes.

"What?" I say.

Tomoyo gets up from her seat so I think we stopped being casual. But then she opens the fridge and opens the chocolate milk carton, and she begins her casual voice again. "So how were you planning on carrying it to and to?"

I was getting to that part. Really, I was. Right after I had worked out how the laptop opened...

"Okay, so no laptop," I say.

We're both silent for a moment. I take a sip from my strawberry milk and she takes a sip of her chocolate milk. Then Tomoyo breaks the silence.

"Um, if you're thinking of getting there in time, I think you should leave now."

* * *

Another reason why Tomoyo is my bestest (I still think they should make that into a word) friend in the world, is that she cleared the unemployed part of my problem. You see, I called her, and she called someone (her boyfriend), and he called someone, and I got it! It's like an important people grapevine. You can get favours like _that_ when you have money. Which is what Tomoyo has a lot of. Money, that is. Even if Tomoyo wasn't a famous designer, she was the daughter of media giant Daidoji Sonomi.

And there was me, a nobody who still can't hook her bra strap in one go.

Actually, it's not funny. At all. It takes me five minutes to get it hooked up at the back, which in the mean time has me falling over in front of the bathroom mirror. There probably are _men_ in the world who can hook on and take off bras faster than I can count to one. One. I've actually tried counting, and then I keep repeating one over again, because I get frustrated when it doesn't get hooked up in one go and lose count. One. One. One!_ One_. _One_!!.

Which leads me back to the fact that I still need to:

**1. Learn to hook bras from the back with my eyes closed.**

I'm actually starting to make a list of things I need to accomplish now (while I'm waiting in line at Starbucks for the moment).

I tap the pen on the pad. My list actually looks a bit bare with only one thing. So I add another one.

**2. Get a job.**

I think having half of my list completed just gives me more incentive to finish it.

There's a man next to me and he smiles as we both wait for our coffees to be made. I smile back at him, and drop the pen and pad into my bag. There's something about being in a coffee store in the morning, with people having breakfast and the beans grinding and milk churning under the frothing handle. The man and I stand there.

He tries to make conversation. "So you work here?" he asks politely.

I nod, just as politely, even though I don't understand what he's saying. Is he asking me if I worked at Starbucks? "In Starbucks?"

Oops. The man gives me a weird look. "I mean in the building, Li Corporations."

Oh. "Yes," I say. At least I think I am. Tomoyo gave me a business card and the level where I'm supposed to meet my new boss this morning. "I'm starting work today, as Mr Li's secretary."

The man whistles. "Good luck."

This time I stare at him weirdly. "Why?"

"Nothing." He picks up his briefcase. "I think the lady behind the counter's calling for you."

Then I remember we're waiting for coffee and I turn towards the counter where the lady hands me the coffee.

I take a sip. Big mistake. On instinct, I spit everything out.

And it just manages to land on the man's shirt. His crisp white shirt.

**3. Learn to not splutter coffee on to the shirts of businessmen. **

"Sorry, sorry, sorry! I'm so sorry! I didn't mean it! Even though you were given me weird looks! It wasn't intentional! I'm so sorry! So sorry!"

The man looks disgusted, and I can't say I blame him. On his shirt now lies my spit and whatever I just drank. Whatever it was. I actually don't know what I ordered.

"What was that?" the man asks in irritation as I grab napkins from the counter and try to rub it off.

The lady at the counter has an amused expression on her face. "A small double-shot decaf latte, extra frothy, at exactly sixty-five degrees on low-fat soy milk plus seven teaspoons of sweetener." She smiles at the look on both of our faces. "I would have warned you, honey, but you were writing something," she says to me.

Long story short; I thought that since I didn't have a laptop to make me look smart and successful businesswoman material, I thought I'd buy a cup of coffee to look like a successful businesswoman. So I just told the person serving me to give me what the lady in front of me ordered, because she looked like successful businesswoman material.

"Shit," the man says, "it's nine already. I don't have time to change."

Wait. Nine? Hoe_ee_. I'm late!

I quickly grab my coffee and everything else and make a dash towards the elevator next to the concierge table. I can't believe I'm late! My watch only read eight forty when I entered Starbucks.

One of the four elevators' doors is opening and I'm nearly there, and I'm only a few feet away – I'll make it! – but then the sharp heels Tomoyo made me wear slips on the polished marble floors and I begin to fall just as I make it into the elevator.

"Hoeeee!"

Everything happens in slow motion. All the things in my hands fall from my coffee to my handbag to my newspaper to my notepad and then my hands are grabbing onto something for balance. My hands slide down a pole, but it's not a pole, and there's a ripping sound and then I'm on the ground with my eyes shut tightly.

Somebody growls, "For fuck's sake."

I peek through one eye. I see a black shoe. I open the other eye and I see my hands are holding on to cloth. I move my eyes up a bit and then I have a feeling my face is flushing red. Before my eyes roam any higher, I get on my knees and stand up. Like...like a successful businesswoman. And talk sense with the person like normal adults.

But glaring at me furiously and making a growling sound at the back of his throat like he was going to slit my throat in any second, was the most pissed-off, most dreamy, most gorgeous guy I've ever seen in my life.

So maybe talking sense won't work...

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**a.n. **-smiles- To my old readers, I'm sorry if you clicked on this story because you received a notification for a new chapter. I'm actually re-writing this. I've been re-reading things I've written in the past, and came to the fact I'm extremely unhappy with what I've written, so if you bear with me, I'll be re-writing everything. Give me two weeks, and I'll be spitting out new chapters regularly if anybody wants to read them still. It was just that the old version of EL gave me headaches when I tried to write new chapters and I came to a wall where the story couldn't advance any further. Putting it plainly, I made Sakura so dumb that the feminist in me rebelled. Also that my old laptop died, so I've lost everything I wrote (which wasn't much except for my earlier works when I was thirteen).

If you're a new reader, yes, this story is being re-written. It previously had five chapters, so that's where the reviews came from :)

Leave me a bit of feedback, and I'll see you at the next update in one-two days.


	2. imagination at the finger tips

**a.n. **Hi! :) Thanks for reviews. Reading each one of them brought a smile to my face. One reviewer asked me how the got-coffee-spilt-on man presumed Sakura worked in Li Corp. I wasn't being clear enough, something I overlooked. -sweatdrop- What I was trying to do is create Li Corp as a tall, grand building, and like most big buildings, the first level has shops and cafes, etc. That's where Sakura went to get coffee, in the building, and the man presumed that she worked in here. :) I hope that answered your question.

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**Elevator Love  
**acaylee

**chapter two**

The elevator doors close – and I'm trapped in a small enclosed space with a guy that looks murderous. He raises one eyebrow slightly and folds his arms, like he's saying, "Explain, or I'll kill you in five minutes and throw you down the chute of the escalator and nobody will ever know."

Quick, improvise! "Bonjour! Er, enchantée, monsieur!" I blurt out. I have an idea. Sort of.

The guy raises the other eyebrow. I'm not sure I like the "what the hell" expression better than the "prepare to die" expression. Or maybe he can't get words through, and he actually wants to say, "Want to go out with me?" which I'll gladly say yes and we'll live happily-ever-after and have good-looking children. After we get married, of course, since my tombstone has to say 'wife' and not 'girlfriend', like I told Tomoyo this morning.

The guy scowls again. Well, maybe, that wasn't what he meant in particular.

"Excusez-moi," I say to him. "Je suis un..." How do you say designer? I try to remember the snippets of French from middle school – except, it's not working! Er, think...of something, brain! Something French! "...un chien!" I think that's French. "I iz doing ar zurvey eere, monsieur. On...er, chameau." I pat his shirt at the shoulder. "Very fine. Your pants, very fine."

There's silence, and then the escalator stops at a level. The doors open to reveal a girl whose eyes widen at the sight of us. She mutters something about finding another elevator and runs away. The doors close again. Weird.

The guy narrows his eyes as we move up again. "Why are you in here."

He means the escalator, right? He should be a bit clearer. "I go up." I point up.

He mutters something under his breath and closes his eyes before running a hand through his hair. I wonder how old he is. Being angry must affect your wrinkles. Not that he has wrinkles. He just looks like he gets angry easily. Maybe he uses facial wash; he does have very nice skin. I've always wondered the difference between men's face wash and women's skin care. Or, maybe, he has facials at parlours. He does look very rich. "Do you wash your own face?" I ask him.

There's silence except for the elevator moving. He blinks in confusion for a second. Then he folds him arms together and there's the faintest smirk at the end of his lips. "Ah, so you don't have a French accent at all, do you?"

Oops. The elevator stops again. I grab my bag from the floor. "Er, got to run. Au revoir!" I say and run out.

**4.** **Never speak a language I don't know again. Ever. Especially to someone who's gorgeous to the shoe...or ripped pants.**

The guy's eyes are narrowed at me as the elevator doors shut. He has that "watch your back" look and for a minute I'm scared. It's like he knows something I don't.

Very suspicious.

But that elevator continues moving up so I forget about it. Try to. I don't think I can really forget somebody that gorgeous. Or the fact I've managed to spill coffee on someone and then rip another person's pants on the same morning, and under ten minutes.

Suddenly, Amuro Namie's "Do Me More" plays and then I remember it's my new ring tone. I clumsily take my phone out from my bag. It's Tomoyo.

"Hello, Tomoyo?" I answer, also suspicious at why Tomoyo's calling me. "Did you need something? I'm very busy, you know. Working," I add – even though it's half a lie.

"Oh, really?" Tomoyo answers. "So I just got off the phone with Eriol, who got off the phone with Li Syaoran, who tells me that his office professional hasn't started yet, but I'm gathering he's lying."

Oh crap. I smile, but then I realise she can't see it. "Er, maybe, Tomoyo. You never know with old businessman. When did he tell Eriol who told you that? That must have been a while ago."

"Oh." I can sense that Tomoyo is smiling on the other end. "It's the top level, by the way. Not that you need to know. I mean, you're working right now, right? You don't need me to remind you since you didn't leave the sheet I gave you next to the microwave half soaked from spilt milk which I have to add you didn't clean up, but you did have time to play with my laptop. I knew you knew where his office is so I'm just reminding you even though you knew and I'm just telling you in case you actually didn't know. But you're there, so you didn't need me to tell you, right?"

Ooph! "Erm, in fact, yes, bzz, ffghz, shh, Tomozzsh, losingzz conneczzz –" A woman passes me and gives me a weird look.

"Sakura, wait! I need –"

" – bad connection! Bye! Love you, honey!"

**5. Tell my new boss that there was a car accident and was held up, thereby, inevitably late for the first day.**

Then I take the next elevator to the top level.

Which I so knew.

**6. After ****today****, keep the employer-employee relationship (half) lies-free...**

* * *

The Li building is big – like the sort of big that people would say about Tokyo. Tokyo's not big if you plot it on a map and compare it to somewhere like..._Russia_, but when you're there, it just seems huge. I grew up in Tomoeda, a small town half an hour's train from Tokyo, so Tokyo's really my first taste of a big city. Not saying that Li Corp. takes up all of Tokyo, just that it seems to sit right in the centre, so it's not a place you really go past and miss. Even before today, I've gone past it, after searching for jobs when I first moved to Tokyo with Tomoyo. Tomoyo moved due to an offer at a big fashion house, and I moved simply because I wanted to live somewhere different.

Different is what I'm thinking when the elevator opens to the top floor. If I thought the ground floor's amazing with all the cafés and shops, this floor is _amazing_. It looks exactly like a page out of a interior design magazine. The floors, black marble, under my feet, so shiny I can almost see my reflection through it. The whole floor's like pent suite meet office. Minus the things like beds and fridges, of course. Oh wait. It that a mini-bar? Oh my God it is! I want to look in it to see what's inside it, but I refrain myself. Maybe I should just find Mr Li first.

There's another door near a front desk that looks exactly like where a secretary sits. This place is so cool! I want to try everything, but then I refrain myself again. Because I'm a professional, er, businesswoman. Right. Or on my way up to being one.

So I decide to go into the office, presuming it's Mr Li's. He might be there. And then I can get started!

I open the door and peek in, but I don't see Mr Li anywhere. It's a bit dark, since the shutters are drawn. His office is really nice though, just like everything here, top of the art. Look! There's even a plasma! I wonder if he'll let me watch TV there, in cases of emergencies, of course. Like drama re-runs with Kimura Takuya.

For a second, I stand in the doorway and imagine what Mr Li is like, just so I know what to expect. Maybe he's in his mid-fifties, greying hair, a son and daughter –

"Bienvenue dans mon bureau, mademoiselle Je-parle-français."

I stand still; somebody's behind me. I turn around slowly. Just to let you know, I'm not the type to panic. I can run, scream, and these heels Tomoyo gave me are very sharp. I. Do. Not. Panic.

At all.

A man's coming out from the shadows. I squint my eyes...oh my – it's the amber-eyed guy from the morning! The one whose pants I ripped!

"Vous savez," he says, slowly walking closer towards me, "ce matin, la chose la plus étrange m'est arrivée. Une fille a déchiré mon pantalon. Mon pantalon fait sur mesure à cent mille yen. Tu ne saurais pas qui est cette fille, par hasard? Je pensais la faire payer. Et maintenant j'apprends qu'elle est ma nouvelle secrétaire. Le monde est petit, n'est ce pas?"

And he's speaking French. A gorgeous guy speaking French is so hot.

"Comment? Ne me dites pas qu'en fait, vous ne parlez pas français." He smiles, almost sinisterly. "Vous savez, je devrais tout simplement vous virer."

But something's not right. And I know what's happening.

He's getting revenge! That's why he was coming out of the shadows! He probably followed me to kill me in the dark and then blame somebody else after. And get away with it. Just because he's rich and handsome and speaks French. They never suspect the beautiful people! The petty things like ripped pants leading to murder.

"Stop!" I yell.

He actually stops and has this confused face. But I know his secret. It's all an act. He's probably a French-speaking assassin. Assassins are supposed to be versatile, anyways.

"If you come any closer," I tell him, "I'm going to phone the police, and I have pepper spray! And I'm a black belt in kung fu. And I do judo. And I can kick very hard." I throw my bag towards the side in one swift movement, like they do in movies. The tube skirt Tomoyo made me isn't really suited for fighting, but it doesn't matter! Good always overcomes evil! "You won't be able to kill me!" I say and move into a fighting stance.

The guy raises an eyebrow. "I'm not going to kill you."

Ah hah! He's admitting defeat!

"Okay, fun's over," he says and walks closer. "I'm going to be late for a meeting so we'll talk later, Kinomoto Sakura."

I'm lost with what's happening and simply stand there. He stares at me for a second before shaking his head as if to clear his thoughts.

"Right," he says, and if I'm not wrong, he seems a bit confused after everything too. "Just to let you know, you are not allowed to come into my office without my permission. You are not allowed to let anybody up here without my permission. You are not allowed to call anybody without my permission. You are not allowed to leave without my permission. You are not allowed to touch anything without my permission –"

Wait. Does that mean he's my...

"– and there's a stack of papers outside on the table in which you will need to look over and sign, if you agree to the terms and conditions of being my secretary."

My boss.

Whose pants I ripped.

"And we," he says, narrowing his gorgeous amber eyes to slits, "will talk about everything right after I come out of a meeting. Including being late and my –"

Don't say the P-word!

"– pants," he finishes.

I gulp.

He looks at his watch as he continues. "I fired my last secretary yesterday so you're going to have to start and finish reading those stack of papers by ten thirty. And then I'll be back." He smiles again, and I feel like melting. From a number of reasons, actually, other than that he's gorgeous. He's smiling and pissed-off and tense and everything in one smile that leaves me frozen on the spot.

"Got it?"

I nod.

"Good." He turns around and walks towards the door. But just before he's out of the room, he turns around, all serious and looks at me. "A _chien_'s a dog and a _chameau_'s a camel so good luck on finding any in this building."

He walks out.

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**a.n.** okay, it hasn't been one-two days, but here's the update :) Holidays are over so I might be busy after. Anyways, the French Syaoran spoke was translated by a French friend so there shouldn't be any problems. Big thanks to **Trapnest **XD I kept pondering whether I should post the translation after it or not, but I decided that it sort of killed it, since it's in Sakura's POV and it's not something very important. Haha just Syaoran talking about his pants. But if you'd like to know what it means, just mention it in a review or a PM or anyway you can contact me, and I'll reply ASAP :) See you at the next update!

PS I actually haven't re-read over what I wrote, because my eyes are tired, so just ignore all the grammar mistakes. I'll go over it another day.


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